Today we’d like to introduce you to Aman Moroney
Hi Aman, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up in a very musical family. There was music around, almost all the time. Mother sang, father played the tabla and my brother sang and had a bunch of musician friends who would hang at home all the time. It was great.
I picked up harmonium and basics of keyboards just by seeing everyone play and learnt tabla with a teacher. I also picked up guitar thanks to an amazing mentor and started getting better at it. I loved music but I didn’t know what a career it in meant. No one at home had done it professionally.
By the time I was 16, following my brother’s footsteps, I put together a group of friends consisting of musicians, artists and dancers and we started performing around the city. In no time, we started getting good at it and I thought everyone was going to do that for their rest of the lives! Well, everyone decided to take up engineering, medical sciences, law etc and I was slightly clueless as to what I wanted to do. So I took up Mechanical engineering.
While attending “Theory of Machines” lecture in my first year of engineering, I would sit at the back and study theory of “Indian classical music” and I knew I wanted to study music properly. So I started researching and found out that no school in India was offering what I wanted to learn, which was Music engineering, composition and production. This was around 2009-10.
So I decided to find schools in the US and UK. I found a lot of schools and I was intrigued by all the amazing courses they were offering. While I was still in my 1st year of engineering, I applied to Manhattan School of Music in New York and got accepted for a foundation course that they were offering, in classical guitar. They sent a letter of at home and my mother found out that I was upto something, but no one thought it was serious.
My parents thought studying engineering first would be a good back up and then they were happy to support my musical education. But I had no patience. I told my parents that I wanted to quit engineering and pursue BSc in Music Technology, in a school in Cardiff, UK. Long story short, they were super supportive and believed in me.
I went to the UK in 2010 for a 3 year bachelors degree and had the best time. I met my early mentors there, Stuart Jones and Gill Edwards, who inspired me and taught me a lot which helped me excel. Stuart once said ” Aman, you are doing well but you need a mentor. Someone who’s doing this for a long time and is a master of the art!”
So I had to find a mentor! I came to Mumbai and started listening to all the work that was coming out of the film and music industry. I saw one common credit in most of the songs I liked, and that was Ashish Manchanda.
I researched about him and found out that he had worked with Bruce Swedien, who was Micheal Jackson’s engineer/producer and was part of the most successful team in the music business.
So I decided to write to Ashish sir, as I call him and he responded in about a week. He called me and asked me to come and meet him at the sets of MTV Coke Studio Season 03, which was the biggest music show at that time. I remember going there and meeting him, with no expectations and we chatted for about 15 mins, and Ashish sir hired me. He said “3 months probation, we will see how it goes and take it from there!”
Long story short, I still work with Ashish sir and consult with him on everything, about life and music. He’s responsible for my career.
Working with Ashish sir meant working on the biggest projects in Mumbai. I was suddenly around some of the biggest composers, musicians, artists in Mumbai. Ashish sir gave me total access to knowledge, know-how, business, his own studio to a point where in a couple of years, I was using the studio more than he was and he would call me to ask if the studio was free and if he could use it. He truly mentored me and a bunch of others, with all his heart. We were like his kids.
I made the most out of it. He would sit with me a break down records, talk about the art of putting arrangements together, the music of the biggest stars, their teams. their mentality and everything else! It was amazing. He would often say “You have to work with the Rihanna’s and Beyonce’s of your generation!!” meaning the biggest artists of your time.
Well, he helped me move to Los Angeles in 2022, and within a year, I was in the studio with Rihanna. When I met Rihanna, I could hear Ashish sir saying “You have to work with the Rihanna’s and Beyonce’s of your time” Quite amazing how someone can believe in you more than you can!
After moving to LA, I met some amazing friends who quickly became my family here. At an event, I met Subhi, who’s an amazing artist and through her, met Natania and Zaiyd, who are some of the best music makers I know and 4 of us started hanging out and making music together. We call ourselves “The Indian Connect” – Here’s a link to the first song we ever made together : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RroQRrzymEg
I love making music with them, they all are extremely talented and have very unique skills – and 4 of us together makes us a very solid team.
We started working with Desi Trill -which an amazing initiative by legendary executives Shabz Naqvi and Tyran “Ty Ty” Smith. Both Ty and Shabz were extremely instrumental in helping shape my career in the USA and I am extremely excited for things to come.
Currently, The Indian Connect is working with Paramount Pictures on their upcoming Hollywood project, more details to come soon!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I was lucky enough to find some amazing people who have helped me along the way, the best of the mentors and teachers, best parents, best family, and the best collaborators. All thanks to all of them!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a songwriter, music producer and a mix engineer. So basically, I make songs!
I am also the principal faculty at The Media Tribe, and I am the most passionate about mentoring young and upcoming music producers and songwriters find a place in the music business.
What does success mean to you?
I remember having this discussion with Ashish sir and we found a really cool definition of success, and it said that “Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal, or a goal”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.amanmoroney.com
- Instagram: aman_moroney
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@themediatribe.
